Jill
by Faelicia
Summary: For her, a wonderful life wasn't so wonderful after all. That is, until she met him.
1. Prelude

**Disclaimer- I don't own Harvest Moon, or are in any way affiliated with Natsume...or I would have fixed their many typos long ago.**

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Discarded. She was like every other fairy tale failure; the ugly step sister, the other woman, the roadblock between Cinderella and her Prince Charming. She was supposed to be Cinderella. She was the one that was supposed to fall in love and marry her Prince Charming. Instead, she had become the unwanted ex-girlfriend, the one that just wasn't working out.

When she was little, she used to dream about being a princess, swept off her feet by a handsome stranger. But this was not meant to be. She didn't belong here. This wasn't her place. Once again, she was alone.

Growing up, Jill was treated differently than all the other children. Try as she may, she could never keep a friend. It's not that she was mean or bossy, but that she was an outcast; a child born out of wedlock and raised by her single unwed mother. Any would-be friends were instantly whisked away and reprimanded by their parents that they were not to associate with this "dirty child." Nevertheless, Jill was content to play by herself.

By the time she was in middle school, Jill and her mother were constantly on the move.

She would stay at this school for a couple months, and then move to another. And so it went until she graduated high school. After high school, she managed to acquire a desk job working for an insurance company.

Not only was the job extremely boring and tedious, but she constantly had papers stacked on her desk, crammed right up the walls of her little cubby. Jill loathed it. She wanted to be outside where she could stretch her legs and breathe in the fresh air…but no, she was stuck in a rank little cubicle surrounded by endless masses of paper.

It was a Saturday like any other: check the mail, read the newspaper, get some fresh air, and kill some time before clocking in for the afternoon shift. The mailbox was unusually full, which was odd because nobody ever sent her anything. Little did she know, the contents of the mail would change her life forever.

It turned out that her grandfather had recently died and left her a small farm. Funny. This was the same grandfather that had scorned her in years past for what her mother had done. Whatever. This was an opportunity she couldn't afford to pass up. Trading a desk job for a second chance?

The thought was tempting. She took it.


	2. Rock

**Disclaimer- I don't own Harvest Moon.**

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Immediately upon entering the farm, Jill felt a pang of regret.

Not was the farm run down, there were no livestock (for they had all died), and a storage compartment so small that the tools had to be tilted sideways just to fit. Had she been tricked?

Something rustled behind her. Jill whirled about to find herself looking at a grizzled man with a considerable unibrow. He introduced himself to her as Takakura, the "business partner" of her grandfather. They had built the farm together, worked the fields together, and raised many generations of farm animals. However upon her grandfather's death, the farm quickly fell into disarray until it became what it was now.

The man seemed honorable enough. Jill sighed deeply and bid him to show her around.

It was night time. Takakura led to the local inn run by an Asian couple, Tim and Ruby. The farm had no living quarters other than Takakura's shack, so for the time being, Jill was to stay here until new living quarters could be built.

She met him half-way up the stairs, splayed out in the middle like a drunken elephant. Unsure of what to do, she started to step over him, when—

"Pink with purple polka dots, nice. Is that a thong?"

She stopped. She looked down to see him glancing up at her exposed panties. Horrified, Jill ran over him into her room, her face already turning red. Locking her room behind her, Jill resolved to never again…wear a skirt.

There was a knock on the door. "Hey, I'm sorry!" said a male voice. "I didn't know you would react in such an uncool way. My name's Rock, can't we be friends?"

Her eye twitched in annoyance. She'd been here a total of 6 hours, and already, there was a guy trying to take advantage of her. With that said, she promptly took a shower, put in some earplugs, and left her pursuer talking to a cold, unyielding wooden door.

--

It was 5 am, and her alarm clock was blaring like a fire engine. Resignedly, she rolled out of bed. After brushing her teeth, Jill quickly pulled on a fresh T-shirt and some jeans. She certainly didn't want THAT to happen again.

She opened the door quietly, in case that creep—Rock or whatever his name was, was around.

A figure fell in. Startled, Jill closed the door…on his head. Luckily, Rock was still asleep. She stared at his features for a little bit. He had soft golden hair and smooth skin, with a gentle smile curled on his lips.

She opened the door a bit to reveal his disco-like outfit. He reeked of beer. Disgusted, Jill shoved his noggin out of her room, locked the door, and went downstairs for some breakfast.

"Why, good morning Jill. Did you get a good night's sleep?"

Ruby set down a plate of scrambled eggs and milk for Jill.

"Yes, thanks Ruby; although, there seems to be some sort of hobo sleeping in the hallway."

"Oh, that would be my son, Rock."

Embarrassed, Jill shoveled down her breakfast, and mumbled her thanks, and ran off to the farm. When she arrived, Takakura was already there, waiting. There, he gifted her with a new chicken, which she named Poppy, and christened the farm Miracle.

Whilst grabbing, a hoe from the storage, Jill was confronted by a small pup. She named it Pug, and continued about her work, planting the seeds that had been left over by her grandfather. Afterwards, she helped Takakura build what was to be her new home. It was coming along quite nicely, and would be finished in about a week's time.

Noon quickly came about. For lunch, Takakura had some left over sandwiches and which he gladly shared them with Jill. When she was finished, Jill set out on an excursion. Determined to meet new people, she set out for the place where she was bound to find some.

The bar.

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A/N: Finals are coming up, so... yeah. I'll update when I can unless I give up on it, in which case, feel free to berate me all you want.


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